In answer to the question posed by one of the judges of the court regarding the meaning and the need for this request, Mrs. Tineo stated that, since she had been detained and since her situation was not being resolved, “I requested asylum, not because I wanted to deny that I had refugee status in Chile, but thinking that when the Bolivian authorities found out that I had refugee status in Chile, they would allow me to leave the country in order to go there.”86 84. On the same date, the Director of the CEB-UNHCR project, Father Alejandro Ruiz, sent a note to the “Government of Bolivia, CONARE, Ministries of Justice, Human Rights and Immigration,” in which he indicated: We would like to advise you that Mr. Pacheco OSCO, RUMALDO JUAN, with his wife, FREDESVINDA TINEO GODOS, have just requested asylum in our agency. […] Mr. Pacheco has provided a statement that his wife has been arrested. Accordingly, at the request of the interested parties, we would ask you not to return them to Peru, because they have indicated that they fear they will be persecuted there. Ultimately, if Bolivia is unable to grant them asylum, the interested party has informed our agency that he would prefer to enter Chile where he already has refugee status. […] Based on this information, with the respective decision pending, I would ask you to release his wife, in accordance with the 1951 Convention, until their situation has been decided.87 85. The SENAMIG examined this situation, as acknowledged by the Chief Adviser on Migratory Affairs in his report of February 22, 2001, in which he indicated that the fax was received “when the deportation was about to be implemented.”88 In this regard, the State indicated that, on receiving the fax from the CEB-UNHCR, the Inspectorate immediately gave orders to release Mrs. Pacheco.89 86. On the afternoon of February 21, during a CONARE meeting (attended only by officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Justice), the matter of the said request for refugee status was discussed, among other matters.90 The meeting was held without the presence of the Pacheco Tineo family or their representatives, who were not informed of this measure by the authorities, and were not given the opportunity to explain their situation. The State did not contest this. According to the “minutes of the meeting” provided by the State,91 the request was “denied” as follows: “The meeting having been called to order […], the cases of those requesting refugee status were examined, as well as other matters, all of which is described below: RUMALDO JUAN PACHECHO OSCO By fax, the CEB-UNHCR Project sent a request for refugee status from the Peruvian citizens, Rumualdo (sic) Juan Pacheco Osco and his wife Fredesvinda Tineo Godos. The information provided revealed that, on March 5, 1998, the said Peruvian citizens made a sworn statement requesting voluntary repatriation to their country and, therefore, tacitly renounced their refugee status, so that 86 Statement made by Fredesvinda Tineo before the Inter-American Court on March 20, 2013. 87 Cf. Note from the Director of the CEB-UNHCR Project to the Bolivian Government dated February 21, 2001 (evidence file, folio 126). 88 Cf. Report of March 23, 2004, addressed by Juan Carlos Molina, Chief Adviser of SENAMIG, to Rodolfo Téllez Flores, Director of Legal Affairs of SENAMIG (evidence file, folio 40). 89 This is revealed by the report of March 23, 2004, addressed by Juan Carlos Molina, Chief Adviser of SENAMIG, to Rodolfo Téllez Flores, Director of Legal Affairs of SENAMIG (evidence file, folio 40.) See also: Report of the Director of SENAMIG to the Minister of the Interior of April 9, 2011 (evidence file, folio 85); Cf. Record of the public hearing on habeas corpus issued by the Ninth District Criminal Court on February 22, 2001 (evidence file, folio 1011). 90 Cf. Report of the Director of SENAMIG to the Minister of the Interior of April 9, 2011 (evidence file, folio 85). 91 The “minutes of the meeting” provided by the State indicate that the meeting was attended by the following: the Director General of Bilateral Affairs and President of CONARE, Edgar Pinto Tapia; the head of the General Directorate of Legal Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship, Gino Poggí Borda; the Adviser to the National Immigration Directorate, Juan Carlos Molina; the representative of the General Directorate of Human Rights of the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, Álvaro Guzmán, and the Assistant to the Director General of Bilateral Affairs, Miguel García Salaues. Minutes of the CONARE meeting of February 21, 2001 (evidence file, folios 128 and 129). 28